F1 Melbourne

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went quickest in the second practice for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, beating early-season title rival Max ...

Early on he complained of not being able to get his RB18 turned in and later on he struggled to get a clean lap on soft tyres with one run being disrupted by traffic and another being scuppered by a mistake in the penultimate corners. Eventually, though, he found a good lap but even though he ran quickest in the middle sector, he missed out on top spot with a lap of 1:19.223 that left him second to Leclerc by 0.245. With 11 minutes remaining the red flags were briefly shown when part of Stroll’s front wing broke and came to rest on the track. The McLaren drivers’ private battle was then disrupted by Ferrari, with Leclerc going quickest with a lap of 1:20.898. The Monegasque driver’s team-mate Carlos Sainz might have beaten that but after going quickest in the middle sector he made a mistake in Turn 13 and hit traffic in the latter stages of the lap. With Sainz third, Alonso was left with fourth place ahead of the second Red Bull of Pérez. Esteban Ocon took fifth in the second Alpine and Bottas ended the hour in P7. Norris finished eighth for McLaren with Pierre Gasly taking P9 for AlphaTauri ahead of the second McLaren of Ricciardo. Leclerc, though, managed a clean lap and he rose to P1 with a lap of 1:19.771. Sainz wasn’t done, however, and with purple times in the first and third sector, the Spaniard posted a time of 1:19.568 to reclaim top spot. The field began to make the move to soft tyres for performance runs as the first third of the session elapsed and Sainz vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:19.979. Leclerc slotted into second on 1m20.175s, with Bottas third thanks to his earlier time. The Ferraris were on track again, however, and Sainz once again took first place with a time of 1:19.376, with Leclerc second a tenth behind. The tussle between the two Ferrari drivers looked like it might define the session, but just before the midpoint of the session, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso popped up with a lap of 1:19.537 to claim P1. With 11 minutes on the clock, Alfa Romeo’s Vallteri Bottas, a 2019 winner here with Mercedes, jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:20.432. Sainz went for another lap on the soft tyres, but was forced to abandon the effort when he came across the slow moving AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda. The afternoon session got underway with a few drops of rain in the air but it had no effect on running and four minutes into the session McLaren’s Lando Norris set the early benchmark with a lap of 1:21.852. The Briton was soon bounced out of top spot by team-mate Ricciardo, who posted a lap of 1:21.793 to claim P1.

Pole position for the Australian Grand Prix will be decided on Saturday morning.

Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers can tune in via the Sky Go app. How to watch the F1 Australian GP qualifying How to watch F1 Australian GP qualifying: TV channel and live stream for pole position in 2022 season

Minute-by-minute updates on Friday practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

All changes have been made in the hope of increasing overtaking opportunities and creating more exciting races. Opening practice for the Australian GP gets underway at 4am BST (1pm local time), followed by second practice which starts at 7am BST (4pm local time). Over two years on from the cancelled Australian GP due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 makes its highly-anticipated return to a revamped Albert Park for 2022.

Charles Leclerc capped off another encouraging day for Ferrari by setting the pace ahead of Max Verstappen in Australian GP second practice, with Mercedes ...

11) George Russell 6) Esteban Ocon 2) Max Verstappen 1) Charles Leclerc It's just a tricky car." Sebastian Vettel also endured a frustrating day on his F1 return after a Covid enforced absence.

Follow for the latest news and updates ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix as practice gets underway in Melbourne.

“It is just nothing you change on the car makes a difference at the moment so that is the difficult thing. “Turn 11, it is much different, much more square and a bit more bumpy on the apex. Additionally, there was a problem with his radio volume, which was also noted by the Stewards in their review, that prevented him from hearing calls from his team about ZHO’s approach. “It could be like a MotoGP race where you could be changing two or three times a lap. “So more to come from that tyre but otherwise, I felt like I was getting on the limit. So, the distances of these DRS zones are going to be quite interesting to see. “I think we found a good set in the afternoon. “Obviously there is financial interest in new places that we are going to and F1 is a business. “It stopped our running, which was painful and unfortunately cost us the whole session in the afternoon, which is not ideal. It has left Mercedes and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton with significant work to do, as the team struggle to overcome the difficulties they’ve been having with the aerodynamics of their W13 car. I haven’t been in the car for a while, plus the track is different. The 19-turn 3.385km Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR became the second longest track in Formula E history after a series of changes for Season 7, with only Beijing longer.

Ferrari edged out pre-weekend favourites Red Bull on the opening day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix. But a data dive suggests there is nothing to ...

There could be more to come, too, with Sporting Director Alan Permane saying they have work to do in extracting the most from the soft tyre on the first timed lap in qualifying. The race pace looks less good, as they drop down to fifth. Over one lap, they appear to have the sixth fastest car, but had Lando Norris hooked up all of his best sectors, he would have been sixth quickest of all. There’s work to do, though, with both drivers chasing more comfort in the car, Sainz admitting they are suffering from porpoising. The struggles of Barcelona pre-season running seem a world away for Alpine right now. Here are five things we learned at a revamped Albert Park in Melbourne.

Ferrari fired a major warning to its rivals at the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, while Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren showed small signs of improvement.

“Because we’re so far behind and because of the cost cap we can’t afford to just throw things at it and trial and error at race weekend. “We need to obviously close that gap but there‘s nothing substantial this weekend that will do that,” he said. I don’t have a second in my pocket but of course you’ll find a bit as the week goes on.” “I suspect the team working the hardest tonight will be Red Bull,” he said. A week after we went to Saudi and we showed more competitiveness — that was really just a track dependent thing. “You said crazy, It‘s definitely a good crazy. That certainly stood out and it’s awesome. He will meet with the stewards after FP2. Hopefully this circuit, I think it does lean more to a Saudi layout than a Bahrain one and I think that will help us a bit with where we currently are.” “Until then, we need to maximise each opportunity and make the most of the package we have.” There’s a lot of support and love and it’s not just for me, it’s for F1 and I think everyone is just stoked to have the race back here.” He added: “It’s so versatile.

The FIA has removed one of the four DRS zones from the Albert Park layout for Formula 1's 2022 Australian Grand Prix, with the move made on safety grounds.

“DRS detection 1 will be moved to before Turn 9, DRS activation 1 will be after Turn 10, DRS detection 2 will remain unchanged, with the following activation zones will be renumbered accordingly.” The remaining two DRS zones and their activation points remain unchanged – with the drivers able to activate the system as they head down the main straight and on the track’s second straight that leads to the tight right of Turn 3. The DRS zone that follows the fast Turns 9 and 10 complex remains unchanged, with the activation point for that run moved to just before Turn 9.

Formula 1 has removed one Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone at the Albert Park Circuit for the remainder of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, reducing the ...

“DRS detection 1 will be moved to before Turn 9, DRS activation 1 will be after Turn 10, DRS A statement from the FIA ahead of FP3 on Saturdays states: “For safety reasons, DRS Zones will be reduced to 3 for the remainder of the event. Ahead of the event, it was confirmed that four DRS zone would be in use following significant changes to the track layout.

Formula 1 has dropped the fourth DRS zone on the high-speed run to Turn 9 “for safety reasons” for the rest of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

DRS detection two will remain unchanged, with the following activations zones renumbered accordingly.” It should be a run but without it being cruising past either side. “DRS detection one will be moved to before Turn 9, DRS activation one will be after Turn 10.

Lando Norris set the fastest lap for McLaren ahead of Ferrari's Chares Leclerc, in the final practice session of the Australian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five, 0.302s off former team mate Norris, while McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo put in a flyer for P6 late on – leaving Verstappen seventh. Norris was however told to slow down late on with a suspected power unit issue. The Dutchman backed out of a late flying effort in frustration after losing the rear at Turn 1 – but showed promising medium-tyred pace. Lance Stroll's late crash at Turn 11 brought out the second red flag of the session and ended FP3 with a few minutes remaining, another Aston Martin out prematurely. The session was interrupted when, after 20 minutes, FP2 absentee Sebastian Vettel (who was also fined €5,000 for taking a scooter on track after his car stopped in FP1) hit the wall exiting Turn 10 and brought out a red flag that was retracted with just under 30 minutes remaining. Lando Norris set the fastest lap for McLaren ahead of Ferrari's Chares Leclerc in the final practice session of the Australian Grand Prix. Numerous drivers went off-track in difficult conditions – both Aston Martin drivers crashing out in separate incidents.

Ferrari continued their impressive start to the Australian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the second practice session ahead of rival ...

The Monagasque racer was 0.245s ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and a further 0.398s ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz – who set the fastest time in FP1. Leclerc set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1m 18.978s around a cloudy Albert Park circuit. Ferrari continued their impressive start to the Australian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the second practice session ahead of rival Max Verstappen.

After a pulsating double header to start the new season, F1 speeds onto the Australian GP this weekend as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc renew their ...

3.45am: Australian GP Practice Three (session starts 4am)* 6.45am: Australian GP Practice Two (session starts 7am)* 3.30am: Australian GP Practice One (session starts 4am)*